3 years ago Sakchai Suphanthamat’s wife passed away suddenly after being bitten by a dog. After her passing, he found his life so empty that he set off to follow his wife’s heart and visit the places she had dreamed of. He has been on the road now for three years.
A Thai man has been travelling around Thailand bringing the bones and ashes of his deceased wife to the beautiful places he had promised to bring her when she was alive.
Sakchai Suphanthamat who is originally from Udon Thani province in Northeastern Thailand married a southern Thai woman in Trang province where the couple lived and toiled together.
During that time, he would often hear his wife talk of visiting places throughout the kingdom including the mountains of northern Thailand and the sea at Trat province on the east of Thailand at the end of the gulf seaboard.
Promised he would take her
He promised her that he would take her. However, tragedy struck Mr Sakchai three years ago when a dog attacked his wife and she developed tetanus from a bite and died.
The Thai man was devastated. The couple had become soulmates which is the case for many marital relationships in Thailand except they are the ones we never hear much about as media coverage instead focuses on the marriages that go wrong often driven by lust and material desires.
Nothing to look forward to, no smile to brighten his heart after his wife passed away suddenly
Sakchai said the overnight his happy and contented life became devoid of meaning. It was joyless with nothing to look forward as much as the smile of the loved one who whom he would never see again in his life. He was lost.
He remembered his promise to his wife and was pierced even more by his loss as he remembered her excited anticipation of the long promised holidays. It prompted him into action.
He took the urn with his wife’s cremated ashes and bones together with his essential belongings, loaded them onto a two-wheel pushcart and set off with the couple’s pet dog to begin the journey to take his wife to see the sights that he had promised her.
First destination was a mountain in Chiang Mai
His first destination was Doi Inthanon mountain in the province of Chiang Mai. ‘I took my wife to Doi Inthanon as I promised when she was alive. Sadly, I could only take her ashes and bones there,’ Mr Sakchai told reporters early Wednesday morning on the road between Kabin Buri in Prachinburi province and Nakhon Ratchasima as he had just set out for another leg of his journey with his pushcart and three dogs.
Joined by two other dogs as well the couple’s pet
On his journey so far, the northeastern Thai man has been joined by two other dogs who have joined his journey in search of his wife’s soul and heart’s desire.
The Thai man explains that he stops every 3 km or so so that the three dogs can take a rest and he finds food from temples and well-wishers on his way.
All his belongings and his wife on the two-wheel pushcart as he makes his way
His cart contains all his worldly belongings bundled up with his wife’s remains. He also has mosquito net covers which he uses every night to shield himself and the dogs as they can lie down to sleep.
He has no plans yet to bring his journey to an end and finds comfort from the memories of his wife and the companionship on the road with his canine friends.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday he said: ‘I still love her and have vivid memories of our time together, even though she left me three years and four days ago.’
Further reading:
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Thai man may be the world’s oldest person, his long life spans three centuries of Thailand’s history
UK man’s idyllic life in Thailand turns to nightmare in one fit of passion
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